OTTAWA, September 2, 2008 -- The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, today accepted recommendations made by the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) on sub-priorities within the four research priority areas announced in the Government of Canada's 2007 Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy.
Canada's 2007 S&T Strategy identified four research priorities in areas where Canada can leverage research strengths to achieve a competitive advantage: environmental science and technologies; natural resources and energy; health and related life sciences and technologies; and information and communications technologies. To give definition to these four priority areas, STIC identified sub-priorities in areas of strategic importance to Canada. The sub-priorities recommended by STIC will assist research agencies in the design and implementation of research support programs in the following important areas:
- S&T priority: Environmental science and technologies
Sub-priorities: Water (health, energy, security); cleaner methods of extracting, processing and using hydrocarbon fuels, including reduced consumption of these fuels
- S&T priority: Natural resources and energy
Sub-priorities: Energy production in the oil sands; Arctic (resource production, climate change adaptation, monitoring); biofuels, fuel cells and nuclear energy
- S&T priority: Health and related life sciences and technologies
Sub-priorities: Regenerative medicine; neuroscience; health in an aging population; biomedical engineering and medical technologies
- S&T priority: Information and communications technologies
Sub-priorities: New media, animation and games; wireless networks and services; broadband networks; telecom equipment
In accepting the recommendations, Minister Prentice thanked the members of STIC for their advice and stated, "I remain committed to supporting discovery and applied research in a broad range of disciplines that generate new ideas for Canada's long-term benefit. However, establishing priorities and sub-priorities also allows us to better focus our efforts in areas of social and economic importance to Canada. I am confident that these sub-priorities will be applied by the Industry Portfolio agencies as appropriate to enable us to advance our interests in areas where Canada has or requires a competitive advantage."
"The research sub-priorities identified by STIC will lead to important research gains in areas that are of high importance to Canada," said the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health. "I am confident that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research will work closely with the other research agencies to achieve this important objective."
Canada's S&T Strategy, Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage, committed the Government of Canada to consolidate external science and technology advisory bodies and launch the STIC. The Council provides the government with policy advice on science and technology issues.
The Chair of STIC, Dr. Howard Alper, said that setting sub-priorities is consistent with international best practices, citing the examples of countries such as Australia and Japan. "Canada must focus its attention on strategic areas of development in research and innovation, thus enhancing our global competitiveness. The sub-priorities, covering both basic and applied research and innovation, will serve as a springboard to leadership by Canada in areas of significance to the nation," said Dr. Alper.
Background information on the S&T Strategy and its sub-priorities is attached.
For further information (media only), please contact:
Bill Rodgers
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Jim Prentice
Minister of Industry
613-995-9001
Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502
___________________________
The Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) has provided advice to the Minister of Industry on how he could advance the commitment made in the Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy to focus on four priority research areas, specifically environmental science and technologies, natural resources and energy, health and related life sciences and technologies, and information and communications technologies.
Identification of sub-priorities
Canada's S&T Strategy communicated the importance of basic research in generating new ideas for Canada's long-term benefit. The Strategy also identified four research priorities in areas where Canada can leverage research strengths to achieve a competitive advantage: environmental science and technologies; natural resources and energy; health and related life sciences and technologies; and information and communications technologies.
To give definition to these four priority areas, STIC identified sub-priorities in areas of strategic importance to Canada. The sub-priorities recommended by STIC will assist research agencies in the design and implementation of research support programs in these important areas. STIC has recommended sub-priorities in areas where the government must build increased capacity to stimulate leading-edge solutions to health, social and environmental challenges and, at the same time, develop practical applications that sustain and deepen the competitive advantage of Canadian businesses in these domains.
In providing its recommendations, STIC emphasized that support for priorities must be balanced by broad support for basic, discovery-oriented research, which is also essential to the advancement of knowledge and innovation. STIC also underscored that technology and research targets within the sub-priorities should not preclude other themes or technologies from future consideration, and it acknowledged the inter-disciplinary nature of the identified sub-priorities.
The four research priorities announced in the S&T Strategy -- environmental science and technologies, natural resources and energy, health and related life sciences and technologies, and information and communications technologies -- were determined based on the clusters of prominent S&T strengths identified by the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) in its report, The State of Science and Technology in Canada. STIC also used the CCA report as a starting point to begin to identify sub-areas of strength and upward momentum within these four domains. In arriving at its advice, STIC noted that the sub-priorities represent research and development (R&D) that will result in benefit to Canada and reflect areas in which Canada has demonstrable S&T strength, has a strategic advantage, or where increased focus would move Canada's capability in that area to become globally competitive. Sub-priorities are R&D areas that already involve industry or that will be capable of engaging industry and private sector at the appropriate point of development of the research. Transformative technologies and processes were not identified as sub-priority areas as these are crosscutting in nature. In formulating its advice, STIC also undertook an examination of current S&T sub-priority setting processes in countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Application of sub-priorities
The sub-priorities will be applied as appropriate by the research councils within the Industry Portfolio: the National Research Council Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. In addition, given its importance as an organization within the federal research and development system, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research will also apply the sub-priorities to its activities. The sub-priorities recommended by STIC will assist research agencies in the design and implementation of research support programs in these important areas.
